Expanding and Updating the Pro Tour in 2014

Trick JarrettSaturday, October 12, 2013

&D Director Aaron Forsythe and Organized Play Director Helene Bergeot went on the Pro Tour Theros stream with Richard Hagon to announce and discuss a number of changes for the competitive play coming in 2014, as well as announcing the full Pro Tour schedule's dates for the rest of this season.

Helene Bergeot felt strongly that players should have the schedule so that they could plan, saying, "since we have the full Grand Prix schedule public, it is important players can see the next year in its totality."

Worlds Week

Worlds Week is getting a handful of changes. Given the experience at this year's event in Amsterdam, it was decided to put a day between the Magic World Championship and the World Magic Cup, as seen above the Magic World Championship will take place over December 2-3, 2014 with the Top 4 battling on December 7, 2014. The World Magic Cup will take place from December 5-6, 2014, with the Top 8 teams battling on December 7, 2014.

We've also expanded the Magic World Championship to a pool of 24 players rather than 16. The prize pool is also being increased from $100,000 to $150,000!

R&D Director Aaron Forsythe, about the changes to the Magic World Championship said, "What surprised me, having seen the event happen in two years now, was that it was the players themselves asking for an increase to the size of the event. And we definitely have more than sixteen worthy players to compete for the title, so it is a great opportunity to broaden the scope of the event."

The player slots for the 2014 Magic World Championship will be allotted as follows:

2013 World Champion

Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year (NEW)

Pro Tour Theros Winner

Pro Tour Born of the Gods Winner

Pro Tour Journey Into Nyx Winner

Pro Tour Magic 2015 Winner

Magic Online Champion

National Champion from World Magic Cup winning team (NEW)

Top two players per region according to ranking by Pro Points

North America

Latin America

Europe

Japan

Asia-Pacific

At-large invitations for remaining slots (by Pro Points)

Of the above twenty four slots, here are the only two we know:

2013 Magic World Champion – Shahar Shenhar

National Champion from World Magic Cup winning team – Raphael Levy

And of course after this weekend we'll know who won Pro Tour Theros.

World Magic Cup Qualifiers

Here are the three weekends planned for the World Magic Cup Qualifiers:

August 16-17, 2014

August 30-31, 2014

September 13-14, 2014

These weekends all happen after the competitive season is complete, so the National Champions will all be known before the first qualifier happens for each country. Additionally, none of these weekends have competing Grand Prix events, so there won't be any conflicts for players who enjoy competitive Magic.

Pro Club Changes

Along with the changes to the Worlds Week, we are also announcing a few changes to the Pro Club.

We recognized a need to utilize the Pro Club benefits at the World Magic Cup Qualifiers. Starting next year, Gold level Pro Club members will receive one bye while Platinum level Pro Club members will receive two byes and a $500 appearance fee at World Magic Cup Qualifiers.

Also players who win either a Pro Tour or the Magic World Championship are both immediately advanced to Platinum levels for the current season and all of the next season. Previously this was just for Pro Tour winners. Due to this, Shahar Shenhar has Platinum for next season (2014-2015) after winning this year's Magic World Championship, since he already had it for the current season (2013-2014).

These are a lot of exciting changes coming for the Magic Pro Tour, and we're thrilled to see the tournament season unfolds!